How to Breed Pigs Economically

Enlarge Image Image Gallery Breeding pigs for sale and meat can be a profitable homesteading plan. PHOTO: FOTOLIA/ HUNTA

I'd like to share with the MOTHER EARTH NEWS readers a few comments on Jack Widmer's September/October 1973 article about breeding pigs and homestead hog production. In that excerpt the author recommended breeding a sow twice a year. From the standpoint of economy, which is not necessarily "automated farming," it's better to do so three times a year (ideally so you'll have farrowing sows in December, April and August). A female hog is quite capable of producing three litters annually if the pigs are pre-started and weaned at 10-20 days. Also, as the sow matures, she gets fatter and fatter until she's eating more than she returns. If full use is made of her reproductive life, expenses stay down, profit from the sale of weanlings rises and the homesteader can afford to buy gilts when his brood animals get too heavy.

Although Widmer is correct in saying that one breeding is usually enough, the chances of a larger litter are increased if you allow two services within 24 hours. Never hurry your boar; some need 15 minutes for complete ejaculation. (Young males, by the way, should be started on gilts. A first encounter with a mature, aggressive sow can result in low libido and hurt the boar's reproductive efficiency.)

The gestation period for swine is 112-115 days. If the homesteader will memorize the phrase "three months, three weeks and three days", he won't need that chart to check his sows' farrowing dates. I don't mean to suggest, however, that record keeping (heat periods, breeding dates, birth dates and weights, etc.) isn't important. It is, unless you're just raising a barrow or two for meat.